Melle Mel Arrested On Domestic Violence Charges
Hip-hop pioneer Melle Mel, the man who was essentially the lead rapper of Grandmaster Flash’s Furious Five, has been arrested and charged with felony domestic violence. Rolling Stone reports that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrested the 62-year-old Melle, whose real name is Melvin Glover, on Monday, after he attended the BET Awards. He’s currently out on bond.
Rolling Stone reports that a woman accused Glover of assaulting her in a Facebook video, claiming that he hit her in the eye in a hotel room. She says that the two were spending time together in the hotel room when Glover suddenly, without warning, struck her in an eye that she’d recently injured: “I’m just sitting there, chillin’. Next thing you know, this man just goes ‘whack’ with four rings on his finger and hits me in my eye.”
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Melvin Glover denies the woman’s story. He says that he asked her to leave his hotel room and that she held her eye, asking him to take her to a hospital. Glover says that he refused and that they argued: “Something did happen to her eye, but I did not punch her. With me tussling with her and trying to get her away from me to get her out of the room, something happened.” Glover is due in court to face those charges next month.
Melle Mel is famous for co-writing and performing “The Message,” the pioneering 1982 single credited to Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five. After splitting away from Flash, Melle also released the 1983 hit “White Lines (Don’t Do It).” The Furious Five were the first rap group ever inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Last year, his fellow Furious Five member Kidd Creole was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison.